Friday, May 31, 2013

Recipe for Vegan Chocolate Mousse

Vegan Chocolate Mousse

Looking at these four ingredients in isolation, it would never have occurred to me that combined, they would form the most delicious, silken smooth recipe for vegan chocolate mousse, which is virtually guilt free.

There are a couple of super foods in there, namely avocado and cacao. From my research for this story, it appears cacao was renamed by the British as cocoa in typical imperial style. Apparently they found the indigenous name pronounced kak-ow difficult to say. Well happily, they discovered what the south Americans had anecdotally known for years. This cacao bean is a fabulous elixir for life. It has been somewhat bastardised by the addition of the sugars and fats you find in commercially produced chocolate, but mixed with the right ingredients, it can be a great way to treat yourself, virtually guilt free.

Cacao has the effect of lowering blood pressure, which has now been considered more important for cardiovascular health than cholesterol levels.

It helps to balance blood sugar and is also high in fibre. It has over 600 antioxidants as compared to blueberries, a well known superfood, which contain just over 20. Frankly, it appears you would be healthier eating cacao than not. Who knew eating so decadently could be this good for you.

Just make sure you don't substitute in drinking chocolate, with all its added preservatives and sugar. Just get the raw cacao powder. I picked mine up at Harris Farm, so it's pretty easy to find.

This vegan chocolate mousse recipe, is one from Kim McKosker, of Four Ingredients fame. Kim is the most successful cook book seller in Australia, over the last 10 years, having sold 6.7 million copies of her 4 ingredients series. What a genius this lady is and so very nice and friendly with it. A lady who called me 'delightfully inquisitive' on her face book page, will always be a friend of mine and I plan to have a much better look at some of her recipes after trying several of them out at the cook off and being really impressed with the result.

And the one that impressed me the absolute most, was this fabulous vegan Chocolate Mousse.

Recipe for Vegan Chocolate Mousse

2 ripe avocados

1 large ripe banana (the riper, the sweeter, so this is important)

1 cup raw cacao powder

1/2 cup of pure maple syrup

Almond flakes for dressing (so it's no longer a 4 ingredient recipe, but these added a nice textural crunch)

Put all the ingredients, except the almonds, into a blender or food processor and whiz until smooth. Make sure all banana and avocado chunks are smoothed out.

Pipe or spoon into glasses.

Top with toasted almond flakes and a drizzle of maple syrup (I didn't bother with the drizzle)

You could also serve with fresh berries.

These do not need chilling before serving, but are fine to store in the fridge if required.

You only need a small portion, as it is decadently rich, so I piped mine into shot glasses. This would be lovely as a dessert at a Summer drinks party served on trays in shot glasses with tiny spoons. You can double the recipe too.

20 comments
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I actually saw the box of cacao in the supermarket the other day and should've grabbed it. It was a nice dessert and easy to whip up. I thought Kim was just lovely too and very deserving of all her successes. A great memory of our trip away Carolyn.

Wow! What a fantastic idea. I am definitely going to try this one. When I was told about the cacao and avo idea, I couldn't quite get my head around it. By adding banana, it makes me want to try it. I made an avo pasta the other day, after an English friend recommended it and I had some avos to use up. It was actually quite delicious, but really it just gave the pasta a creamy sauce and the flavour came from the garlic, lemon, basil and chili. Yay, for avocado season x

Yes but not as sweet as regular mousse. Most maple syrup products have some sugar in them. The more affordable the more sugar it seems. Yes the maple syrup is the sweetener. Although I didn't try it, I assume agave nectar would do a similar job, You'd have to check quantities as I'm not sure how sweet that is.

I can highly recommend this mousse recipe, as easy and delicious and it was very chocolatey and rich but not too sweet.Carolyn

I made this tonight (doubled it). I skimped a little (by 1/4C) on the pure maple syrup. I could only sample litte tastes since evening chocolate will keep me up all night. I really like dark chocolate lately (darker the better since going vegan!) and I really liked what I tasted. My non-vegan boyfriend had more and said it needed something like vanilla ice cream. He's always pretty critical of anything vegan, however; so whatever. [He raved about a similar recipe I made which called for melted Kirkland semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of cacao powder.] More super good and healthy dessert for me (tomorrow). Maybe I'll take it out of the freezer and "whiz" it again with an added avocado and the rest of the maple syrup. I could also see stirring in some chopped raspberries into a serving size.

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About Me

Hi I'm Carolyn coming to you from a sweet little beach house on Sydney's Northern Beaches. Desire Empire is my passion and I love all things vintage, interiors, food, travel and family. Come and join me on my journey in paradise.